Re: FLTK and Ada?

[David Holm <david@realityrift.com>]

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 07:05:42 +0000 (UTC)
Preben Randhol <randhol+abuse@pvv.org> wrote:

> Freejack wrote:
> > I've been looking around for a nifty little GUI toolkit for use in my
> > little project here.
> > 
> > I've looked at GTKAda and QT, TASH, yadda yadda yadda.
> 
> And why don't you want to use GtkAda?
> 
> > I've since come across FLTK(Fast Light Toolkit). It's quite stable, makes
> > really tiny executables, and actually looks halfway decent.
> 
> I think it looks rather ugly.

Looks might be totally irrelevant depending on the specifications for the application you are
developing.

> > Has anyone here played with FLTK? 
> 
> No and I never will.

Your loss.
 
> > Any opinions on it? 
> 
> There are a ton of different GUI toolsets out there. The problem is that
> most are half hearted attempts and some die out as they do not get used.
> It is also better to use one of the more established GUIs as they are
> better tested and have more backing for further development.

FLTK is becoming rather popular and I definately don't think this is a dying project. As for
maturity you should also compare it to code complexity.

> > It is designed to be statically linked. Yet the resulting binaries(the
> > ones that I've seen) rarely exceed 300-400kb. I've seen nice GUIs in FLTK
> > come in under 20kb.
> 
> So what?

Have you heard of something called embedded systems?
Your specification might enforce strict requirements when it comes to memory-usage. Would you
sacrifice memory just because you want the application to look good? If so you might find it
difficult to get a job working with Ada.

> > Any suggestions?
> 
> Use GtkAda.

Use whatever fits your project best.

[snip]

//David Holm